5 minutes with… Landscape with a Stream by Edward Hicks

American Folk Art specialist Sallie Glover explains why this small landscape painting by Edward Hicks — offered in New York, 17-18 January — gives us rare insight into the life of an artist who largely adhered to biblical and political scenes

‘It’s unlike anything we’ve seen by him before,’ says Sallie
Glover, referring to the quiet pastoral scene in front of
her. In all probability, the setting is Langhorne in Bucks
County, Pennsylvania, where the folk painter Edward Hicks
(1780-1849) grew up.

‘He was a complex character who was
very conflicted by his creativity,’ says the specialist of
the Quaker-born preacher and artist. To paint was to go against
his religious beliefs, so Hicks reconciled his artistic urges
by focusing only on biblical scenes or pictures with a political
message.

His most famous works are a series of 62 paintings known as The Peaceable Kingdom, depicting animals existing
in harmony, inspired by a passage in the book of Isaiah,
which are now held in public museums including The National
Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. ‘He also made a series of paintings about
Penn’s Treaty, commemorating the peace agreement between
the Quaker settlers and the Native American Lenape people,’ says Glover.

Landscape with a Stream, painted sometime around 1846, does
not depict a bible story or make a political point, and that
is the beauty of it. ‘It is the closest we get to a personal
painting by him,’ says Glover.

‘On the back of the frame is
a handwritten label which reads Edw. Hicks to his beloved/ friend Mary Roberts sendeth/ Greeting. Hicks
never signed his pictures, so this documentation is rare.’

Mary Roberts, it seems, was a relative of the coachmakers
William and Henry Tomlinson, to whom Hicks was apprenticed at the age of 13. ‘What makes this image unique,’ explains
Glover, ‘is that it is a window into his personal life — with no political or spiritual undertones.

‘Unlike his other works it is not calculated, and there’s no symbolism or grand world view,’ she continues. ‘This is something personal and intimate, made for someone he loved.’

When Mary Roberts’ descendants sold the painting, the new owner,
recognising its value, kept the picture in a closet. It
was only removed when the specialist came to see it. ‘As
a result, it is in excellent condition,’ says Glover. ‘We think
it might even have the original frame.’